Country Life December 30 2015

This week’s Country Life magazine finds things to celebrate in 2016

** Nearly 150 diary dates—plays, music, paintings and gardens, as well as Britain’s most interesting shops, enchanting country shows, holidays with horses and new places to eat, drink and stay—guaranteed to make the year ahead count

** The home of the celebrated novelist Elizabeth Gaskell hasrecently been restored, with her domestic interior re-created, and is open to the public.

** Averil King esteems the accomplished work of Edward Robert Hughes, an associate of the pre-Raphaelites

** Property market report: The market’s had a challenging year, but Penny Churchill is optimistic